Cycling is like life. Cycling with no goal is meaningless. What meaning is there cycling in circles? Or living aimlessly? Meaning comes from direction and destination. Join me in my life's journey on a mountain bike :)

Blogging since 2003. Thank you for reading :))

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The journey, not just the destination

Feb distance: 339 km

Sat 23 - Sun 24 Feb
Desaru, 104 km. I help N with a cycling class. I'm the "gofer" who helps carry bicycles, bicycle pump, bags, water, even a DVD player. I get a few tips too - not the money kind, but advice from instructor K, and try out a new trick - how to pick up a bottle on the ground while cycling. If one is not careful, one ends up on the ground. This isn't a useful skill in itself, but to do it, one must have the requisite bicycle-handling skills. So, it's not the destination (bottle picking), but the journey (bicycle-handling) that's the essence. If you just want to reach the destination, you haven't arrived. If you want the journey too, you're on the way to the destination. I have other fun on Day 1, cycling off-road (in slippers!) and riding off-road by the main road, going uphill on Day 2. The students seem to have learnt some things from me too (about cycling, not just the existence of "maggi mee goreng"). I learn how to run a marathon from one of them. And enjoy conversations in the van to and from Singapore.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Brown butterfly, yellow spider

Old Birdcage Walk, 51 km. There's a bit of England in Singapore. Even an Oxford Street and Hyde Park. It is a peaceful place, even with (light) aircraft flying overhead. This is, after all, an airport. I also cycle offroad near Jalan Kayu, where I see brown butterflies. Somewhere along the way, I pick up a yellow spider. It must have climbed on board while I was bashing through an abandoned road. How strange life is; usually, butterflies are brightly coloured and spiders dull.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

The bright side

Choa Chu Kang, 48 km. I wear my Dainese jersey, which I won last week, for the first time. I'm think what good tyres I have; they roll over broken glass and stones with no fuss. As I corner, my wheel wobbles. Blowout. I apportion blame before the fact is out: a 4 cm nail. No tyre can take that. And no one should shoot first, ask questions later. I look at the bright side: a patch of shade so big, I fix the flat with no sweat. A roadie passing by who asks if I'm ok. And, later on, a road all to myself, as butterflies flit by. Just because bad things have happened earlier doesn't make the lunar new year a lunatic new year. But deep down, I still feel sad.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

First time first

Bike Quest 08, 136 km. I'd hesitated to sign up for this all-night race organised by National University of Singapore's Faculty of Arts and Social Science. Starve self of sleep, then go to work the next day. I sign up anyway. As it turns out, all four team members had cycled from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in 2005. Without prior arrangement, we wear the same jerseys tonight. Our route takes us from East Coast Park to Buangkok, Toa Payoh, Thomson and Bukit Timah. In this adventure race, big and small things count, like a plan and a pen. We think fast, cycle fast. Diversity means we know the different routes well. And are linguistic and numerically adept. There are cramps and raised voices, but we come in top scorers by a wide margin. #1 among 58 teams (half in competitive category). We divide up the spoils. Cash is liquid, but goods (one mountain bike frame as prize for a team of four?) would've to be sold and monetized. This is the first time I'm first in a race. Someone asks if I'm the oldest competitor. Probably.